Rise in rail fares in effect

Just one day into the New Year and as expected, the rise in rail fares has gone into effect causing the average ticket to increase by approximately 5.9 percent and some season tickets have risen by nearly 11 percent.

This may sound like high rises during this current downward trend in the economy but these rises actually follow a prescribed formula which has been in effect annually creating a rise in fares at about 6 percent. Even so, some season tickets have risen by almost twice that amount such as those to Crewe from Chester which have gone up 10.6 percent and between Bangor and Llandudno have risen that much as well.

Some season rail tickets have risen by over 8 percent such as a Leeds/Wakefield ticket and London tickets have gone up by 6.9 percent. To show just how much tickets have increased, a season ticket between the capital and Northampton now cost £4,756 which is an almost 7 percent increase in fares.

The hardest part about these increases is that workers are not getting pay rises anywhere near that amount and it is making it increasingly difficult to cover the cost of travel to and from places of employment. However, it could have been worse because the government had said that they were going to increase the rates even further by 1 to 3 percent, but backed off at the last moment.

Similarly, those who travel by bus in the capital were facing bus fare increases of almost 7 percent but funding from government kept that increase to approximately 5.6 percent. Unfortunately, this does nothing to appease those who must travel by bus and trains in the UK as the cost of comparable tickets in Europe are ten times lower and the service is much more reliable and punctual.